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I've got a 270 Blazen gyuto f/ EE and i find it AWESOME. It's such a beautiful knife - it was stunning when I first opened the box. The spine and choil are nicely rounded. It's not too thick - about 2.8mm above the heel and has decent taper to the tip. I really like the blade's geometry - it's got a fairly long flat spot in front of the heel. Since it clad it's not a light knife, but the big-ish handle and full-tang balance it all well. It's not a laser, but still a great cutter - can cut/slice very finely and has some heft to it so it doesn't feel like it will bend.

I find it one of the more challenging knives I have to sharpen to a keen edge, but it's really not that difficult. Compared to VG-10 or white #2, it takes a little more work and precision on my part. It definitely takes a better edge than VG-10 and holds it longer. I do find the edge it takes to be very smooth and not toothy. It was one of the sharpest OOTB (sharper I think than my recent Sakai Yusuke white #2). No chipping at all so far - and I've portioned rack of lamb when I didn't have another knife available to cut the bone section. I haven't thinned the edge - only last time I sharpened it did I try lower angles (didn't really thin the blade, just scratched up the shiny cladding).

According to EE's website blurb, they worked w/ Ryusen to refine some of the design details on the knife - I don't know what they are, but I decided to spend the extra money and get it from EE. Can't compare it to Blazen's sold by others. Basically, I think it's the nicest SS clad western handled knife out there (outside of a custom).

Btw. I have a 240 EE Blazen that I bought used two years ago and just took a closer look: spine and choil are not rounded any more than on a 135 petty from Koki. There is also a version Blazen by Takamura, which is one of the shops that make up Echizen Uchihamono, and they have rounded and mirror polished spine and choil. Saya and lettering is like the export version EE sells.

I've only seen one shop that has it, it's a German web-shop owned by a Japanese (Link. They seem to have only plain sayas and the lettering is the Roman lettering (obviously remembered it wrong). Maybe you can get it from Japan, it would probably be a lot cheaper though.

I've only seen one shop that has it, it's a German web-shop owned by a Japanese (Link. They seem to have only plain sayas and the lettering is the Roman lettering (obviously remembered it wrong). Maybe you can get it from Japan, it would probably be a lot cheaper though.

CKTG's Blazens are from Takamura (I happened to notice the lettering on the blade). They are priced to match JCK's Ryusen Blazens.

Since I am not in the States, the EE option for me is less attractive (even after taking into account EE's generous 10% forum discount) because of shipping which is about $37. All up, the EE Blazen would cost me $43 more - worth it for the cooler (albeit printed) kanji and the magnetic saya? Hmm... perhaps.